Calendar of Events

Bike Walk Knoxville and Bike Walk Tennessee are proud to present the 4th annual Tennessee Bike Summit. Workshops and panels will offer attendees many opportunities to learn about advocacy and education, infrastructure, updates on the U.S. Bicycle Route in Tennessee and other special projects from around the state. Our speakers from across the state and beyond will show economic, social, environmental and health benefits of bicycle-friendly communities, and how to get there. Gil Penalosa, Founder and Chairman of 8-80 Cities, and Martha Roskowski, Director of the Green Lane Project and Vice President of Local Initiatives with PeopleForBikes, will be this year’s keynote speakers.

At the Knoxville Convention Center, 701 Henley St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Info: http://www.tnbikesummit.org/

Spring Chamber Concert
Student ensembles recital
Thursday, April 23, 2015 at 8:00 p.m.
Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall, Natalie L. Haslam Music Center

UT School of Music: Unless otherwise noted, concerts are FREE and open to the public. The Alumni Memorial Building located at 1408 Middle Drive on the UT campus. (The James R. Cox Auditorium is located in the Alumni Memorial Building.) The Natalie Haslam Music Center is located at 1741 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus.
*For individual or small group performances, please check the web site or call the day of the event for updates or cancellations: 865-974-5678, www.music.utk.edu/events

Backpacker Magazine’s Get Out More Team will be visiting with us in three locations this year. Keith and Becky Unruh will share their trail-tested tips that will help you get out and enjoy the great outdoors more. They have thru hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and cycled from Virginia to Oregon along the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, so their experience is garnered first hand. There’s information for everyone from trail newbies to seasoned trekkers. Be sure to come early to ask questions before their more formal presentation. Be sure to register for some great door prizes, too.
Here are the dates and locations:
Knoxville – April 23, 6 p.m.

Whether you have a love for the Bard or whether you’d like to know more about him, you’re invited to help “Celebrate William Shakespeare’s Birthday” in a day-long mini-festival at the Blount County Public Library. On Thursday, April 23, the traditional day recognized as Shakespeare’s birthday, the library will celebrate Shakespeare’s 451st birthday with a variety of activities and events. Shakespeare was born in 1564. The day’s schedule will include:
o 12:00 noon, Readings of Shakespeare Sonnets and Soliloquies performed by Jennifer Spirko, Kate Clabough and other local actors in the Main Gallery of the library. Bring lunch or purchase it at the library’s Bookmark Café.
o 6:30 p.m., “Twelfth Night,” movie of William Shakespeare’s play in the Sharon Lawson Room.
o 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Activities in the main gallery of the library. Patrons and staff are invited to dress as Shakespeare characters.
A tent board will be available where library patrons can create their own Shakespearean insults. Community members are invited to dress up in costume as characters from Shakespeare’s plays. A Twitter “scavenger hunt” will send patrons around the library to take Shakespeare selfies that they can post to social media.

At lunchtime, staff member, Jennifer Spirko, and Kate Clabough will perform readings of sonnets and soliloquies in the main gallery of the library. Then in the evening, there will be a showing of the movie, Twelfth Night, the wonderful 1996 version starring Helena Bonham Carter. Light concessions (popcorn and soft drinks) will be available during the movie.

Free and open to the public at Blount County Public Library, 508 N. Cusick Street, Maryville, TN. Information: 865-982-0981, www.blountlibrary.org

"Baltimore husband and wife duo, Naked Blue did a set that totally put me into heaven. These two are just heartbreakingly good. The lyrics, the chemistry, the tempo and the addictive songs sent me home feeling like I had won a music lottery." So said Diane Lilli in the blog at Jersey Tomato Press.

Headlining the show at The Historic Grove Theater in Oak Ridge is the Maryland duo, Jennifer and Scott Smith. They have been making beautiful music together for over two decades under the moniker, NAKED BLUE. Maybe that is the image of yourself as you emerge from the waters of the Chesapeake Bay on a brisk Spring Morning! Whether as a duo or with full band their folky pop performances wash an audience with a glow of emotions to relish in for days. Both accomplished multi-instrumentalists, their music actually relies on strong writing skills and impeccable harmonies. Naked Blue’s trademark acoustic-pop sound in its simplest form is good harmonies, a catchy hook and Jen’s breathy voice that at once soothes and intrigues. This is evidenced in their 5 completed albums and most prominent on their current release; WEIGHTLESS. Whatever your taste, Jen and Scott seem to have something made to order and as the years go by, the selection grows greater and greater. Audiences will enjoy Naked Blue’s intriguing body of music that seems to delight in keeping one guessing. Learn more at: http://www.nakedblue.com/home.html and find them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/scottandjensmith?ref=br_tf .

Current Nashville Resident, Brooks West, will start the evening with his unique blend of elements of contemporary folk, country, and pop. The first guitar Brooks picked up belonged to his uncle, a wheat farmer in North Dakota (and not a guitar player himself). Since then, this Fargo, North Dakota native has gone on to write over one hundred songs. The son of a mortician and a school teacher, Brooks has a unique - and often humorous -outlook on life that shapes his repertoire. His songs cover subjects ranging from death and destruction to love and hope and even the occasional ballad to office supplies. Over the past ten years, Brooks has performed in coffee shops, bars, colleges, festivals, and benefits across a good portion of the country. Some career highlights have included playing the national anthem for a sell-out crowd of more than 4,500 minor league baseball fans. He has had the pleasure of opening for such nationally known acts as Grammy Award winning Doc Watson, The Duhks, Dan Bern, The Roches, KellyJoe Phelps, Shawn Mullins and more. Find Brooks on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/brookswest?fref=ts .

The Concert is FREE to the public. The Historic Grove Theater is located at 123 Randolph Road at High Places Community Church near the new Kroger Marketplace in West Oak Ridge. Presented by Masskus Productions: led by Stephen F. Krempasky, it is an entertainment and arts agency bringing professional artists to live performances in the East Tennessee region. Masskus Productions presents and assists non-profit organizations in their presentation of special events offered to the community. 865-288-0672, www.masskus.com

Pellissippi State Community College graphic design students will display their coursework during the annual Communication Graphics Technology Student Design Showcase. The free event is open to the community. The theme of this year’s showcase is “We’re Cooking Up Something Good.”

The student showcase is like a graduation, celebration and potential job interview all rolled into one. It gives this year’s 19 senior-level participants the opportunity to present their portfolios for viewing and evaluation by invited area design professionals. Each student has his or her own table display, and each makes business cards and resumes available to the attending industry professionals. The CGT Student Design Showcase takes place in the Bagwell Center for Media and Art on the Hardin Valley Campus.

Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6400, www.pstcc.edu

Bike Walk Knoxville is hosting a special free community event at The Standard (416 W. Jackson Ave) with a reception beginning at 6 p.m. and the talk starting at 7 p.m. Gil Penalosa, founder of the Toronto-based nonprofit 8-80 Cities, will discuss how citizens and governments can create vibrant and healthy cities for everyone, regardless of age or social status. Penalosa offers a simple but effective principle for inclusive city building --- creating a safe and joyful space for everyone from 8 to 80 years old. As a former Commissioner of Parks for the City of Bogota, Colombia, Penalosa was an integral part of that city’s much celebrated transformation of public space and sustainable mobility during the late 1990s. His team initiated the “new Ciclovia" — a program that sees over 1 million people walk, run, skate and bike along 75 miles of city roads every Sunday, and today is internationally recognized and emulated.

There is no admission charge, but attendees may wish to bring cash for food that will be available on site. Info: www.bwknox.org

UT Artist-in-Residence for Spring 2015
On display April 22 - 25, Public Reception April 24, 6-9 PM

The three works on display express my desire to distill and undermine normative expectations about which behaviors and expressions are appropriate for whom. A choreographic example can be found in Presumptuous, an ongoing video series shot in cities around the world which disrupts the codes of urban co-existence by inserting hyper-intimate and often queer interactions into public space.

Agni Agonies, also ongoing, is both an archiving and performance project. The work features scenes from Bollywood genre films in which women are caught in fires. The origin of this scene within Indian culture is the figure of Sita in the Ramayana mythology, who submits to a trial-by-fire to prove her sexual purity. Using appropriated footage and performative interventions, Agni Agonies demonstrates how the various repercussions of this symbolism articulate a cinematic archetype and fascination with the fire.

The exhibition concludes with Recitations not from memory. Shot in Bangalore and featuring untrained actors, this work employs a pointed slippage of identity to translate interviews into unrehearsed speech performances. There is no specific moment of reveal; instead the video presents an imagined reality in which commonplace stories become new in the mouths of those less familiar with telling them.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! UT Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902. Hours: Wednesday-Friday: 11AM - 6PM, Saturday: 10AM - 3PM. Information: 865-673-0802, http://web.utk.edu/~downtown

Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942-1964
Also: Gente Not Numbers and Border Monster sculptures by Angel Luna

Opening reception Sunday April 19, 1:30pm

This exhibit, created by the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit Service and presented by Humanities Tennessee, highlights the historical program which imported Latin American agricultural workers to the United States. For a full list of events and exhibits for this celebration, visit www.rosecenter.org. Rose Center has received a generous grant from Humanities Tennessee to support these events.

The Rose Center, 442 West Second North St., Morristown, TN, 37814. Information: 423-581-4330

By J. B. Priestley / Directed by Patrick McCray

Was it a supernatural mystery about guilt, money, power, sex, and Social Responsibility? Yes, it was. Is it a madcap, absurdist slice of lunacy where the Marx Brothers, WC Fields, and the Addams Family collide on the set of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT? Only you can be the judge. Just remember ... until you call on the inspector, the inspector will call on you. And until you inspect the caller, the caller will inspect you. What does that mean? Come by and find out! An Inspector Calls is one of J. B. Priestley's best known works for the stage and a classic of mid-20th-century English theatre.

Tickets: Thu, Fri, Sat: $15, Sun matinee: $13

Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 319 North Gay Street, Knoxville. Info: 865-544-1999 or email: info@theatreknoxville.com. www.theatreknoxville.com

The Shakespeare classic “The Tempest” is being produced in partnership with Duck Ear Productions. The play is April 17-19 and 24-26. Attendees should prepare to be transported to a faraway island for a tale filled with spirits, monsters, vengeance, young love and sorcery.

Pellissippi State: 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, TN 37932. Information: 865-694-6405, www.pstcc.edu

Save the date!

Friday, April 17-18, 24-25 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23 at 11 a.m.
Townsend Auditorium, TWC Campus
Tickets are $10 for Adults, $5 for students and seniors
For more information, please visit: twctheatre.com